Escape
by junodog
Summary: As he's trying to escape from Scar, a certain someone ends up in a certain somewhere. Crossover with... READ TO FIND OUT LULZ If I say it now you'll just laugh and run away. Heck, you might do so anyway, but hey, I like surprising people.
1. Chapter 1

So… This is what happens when you have a brain like mine. See, I have this tendency to cross over… well, everything, so yeah. You'll be surprised what I picked this time. Most likely, you will lol. Well, maybe not, but I think it's funny. So, yeah. There may be clues in the first part, but we'll see.

And yes, this will be a serious crossover. Just because I have to do it. XD

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_A sudden breeze coming from behind alerted him to his surroundings. He shook his head to clear his mind of the distracting thoughts that were, at the risk of being redundant, distracting him from what he needed to concentrate on: getting away from Scar._

_He lightly jumped to the ground from his high perch and ran for the edge of town, which happened to be bordered by cliffs and boulders of what we would consider to be the African variety. Needless to say, there are many liberties being taken with this series of events, all of which are necessary for the end result._

_He threw himself into a small cave and transmuted the entrance shut, leaving a very small hole for air. He hoped that he'd been far enough ahead of his predator to have successfully thrown the Ishbalan off, but he transmuted a small tunnel down the cave just in case, positioning himself in such a manner that he could easily run down it and transmute an exit further down, which in theory would give him enough time to escape should Scar find him here._

_He shuddered to think what would happen if the Ishbalan simply decided to destroy the rock that supported the ceiling of his small hideaway._

_He heard a rustle on the other side of the wall and decided to risk looking through the small hole to see what was approaching. Sure enough, the Ishbalan happened to be passing by. He tensed, hoping that the small hole providing air for him would go unnoticed by the Ishbalan._

_Suddenly, Scar stopped and turned. He couldn't see the man's eyes, but he could tell the Ishbalan was facing him. He pulled himself back into the safety of the cave and waited, holding his breath and looking through the narrow opening to see what the Ishbalan was doing._

_A red eye appeared through the hole, and he tensed again, not daring to breathe and hoping that the darkness of the cavern was enough to hide him, but no such luck._

"_Fullmetal Alchemist," came the deep voice of his would-be killer. "You're dead!"_

_He scooted back toward the tunnel and shoved himself into it as the wall he'd transmuted earlier was destroyed. He nearly made it, as well, but a hand wrapped itself around his ankle, and he was pulled back. He screamed and shouted, he kicked out at his assailant, but it wasn't enough. Scar had somehow managed to pull him from the cave and shoved him against a nearby cliff wall._

"_Like I've said before, you're too slow."_

_He didn't know what came over him at that particular moment, but something strange flashed before his eyes, and he could tell the same had happened to Scar. Both were too surprised to move for a good minute, but when they finally did regain their senses, he was the first to make a move._

_He kicked Scar as hard as he could in the groin and ran like hell, making it a decent distance away before losing his footing and falling ten feet to the hard stone below._

--------------

"Whoa…"

"Hey, Simba," Nala said as she padded up to her friend. "What are you looking at?"

"Hey, Nala. Look in there," the young male cub replied, gesturing with a paw to a small cave in the rock outcropping a few hundred feet away from Pride Rock. Nala looked curiously inside before letting out a shriek and jumping back a bit.

"W-w-wh-what is that?" she stammered, tripping over her paws as she attempted to regain what dignity she had left.

"I don't know. I heard about something like this from my dad, but this one's really light…"

"You should get him to come down here. Seriously, Simba, I don't like this."

"What, are you scared?" Simba taunted.

"No! I just want to know what it really is, and I think your dad can tell us!" Nala shot back.

"What are you two doing?" Zazu suddenly interrupted, startling both cubs out of their reverie.

"Hey, Zazu, what is that?" Simba asked, pointing at the cave entrance.

The Hornbill peered into the cave before suddenly jumping back. "It's a human!"

"A what?"

"Listen, stay here and watch it. I'll go get Mufasa!"

And with that, the two cubs went back to watching the obviously unconscious 'human,' as Zazu had called it.

-------------

Yeah. I went there.


	2. Chapter 2

To all of you who mentioned insanity in your reviews, yes. I am insane. The only reason I ain't on meds in a padded room is because I can hide it. ;D

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The first thing he was aware of was a pounding in his skull. Ed groaned, shaking his head a little bit to try and rid himself of the pain before cracking his eyes open a bit. However, he was overcome by a rush of dizziness, and for a moment, all he could see was spots.

He was aware of voices, one deep and knowing, one giving off an irritating tone, and two that seemed to belong to children. He groaned again as he brought up his left hand to rub his eyes. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be too bright where he lay, his back supported by stone.

The voices stopped, and Ed felt all four gazes turn to him. He finally opened his eyes and saw his surroundings for the first time. What he saw, needless to say, scared the hell out of him.

He was in a small cave. Three lions and a bird were staring at him. He screamed.

One of the lions, the adult of the trio, crawled into the cave, moving slowly toward the young alchemist who was now trying desperately to crawl further back into the cave, forgetting temporarily that a: he was already backed up against the wall, and b: he could easily use alchemy to get the hell out of there.

However, he did think of a way to feel like he had a fighting chance. He pulled his right arm up, the blade he'd formed with alchemy as he'd ran from Scar still there, and held it in front of him, the tip pointing straight at the lion's head.

To his surprise, the beast didn't react the way he thought it – no, it was definitely a male, judging by the mane – would. The lion simply stopped moving, lowered his head, and looked Ed straight in the eyes.

They sat like that for a minute, Ed breathing hard and wishing his heart would go back to beating at a normal pace, and the lion watching him with what looked like patience in his eyes. Finally, Ed clapped his hands, got rid of the blade, and let his arms drop.

"Why does this always have to happen to me?" he muttered as he lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," came an unexpected reply, and Ed blinked a few times as he tried to comprehend what he'd just heard. From the lion's mouth.

"…Huh?"

"Dad, what's happening?" came a query from one of the younger voices. The lion right in front of Ed turned his head to look back out the cave entrance.

"Simba, I asked you to be patient while I finish this," came that same voice, again from the lion's mouth. Ed began massaging his temples with his left hand.

"This can't be happening…" he muttered to himself.

"Are you all right?" came that deep voice again, and Ed looked up to see the lion's face inches from his own. Ed unconsciously scooted back as far as he could go as he tried to think of an answer.

"Um… I think so…" he finally got out. "Wh-what exactly is this?" he asked.

"I'm surprised as well. I didn't think your kind could understand us."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ed asked weakly, going back to massaging his temples. His head really hurt. A lot.

"As far as I know, it isn't. I know that humans don't speak the same language the rest of the animal kingdom does, but I have heard of exceptions."

"Well, I'm not an exception," Ed stated, refusing to believe what was happening. "If I could communicate with animals I should have learned about it by now."

The lion chuckled, which sent Ed into an even greater state of panic and confusion. Lions didn't chuckle. They were members of the feline family. They didn't chuckle. They roared or growled or purred or whatever else. They. Did. Not. Chuckle!

"I'm sorry, but I can't explain this to you because even I don't know the answers. However, I do know that you're injured. That is obvious enough to me."

"Huh…"

The lion's gaze moved down to Ed's legs, and Ed's eyes followed. As he saw what was beneath the torn leather, Ed let out a pained groan. Oh yeah, he could feel it now…

"Zazu, find Rafiki and ask him to come to Pride Rock. He may be the only one who can help…" The lion looked at Ed curiously, as if…

"Edward. My name is Edward," Ed stated.

"Yes, sir," came the irritating voice, just before Ed saw the bird that had been next to the lion's rear haunches fly off.

The lion in front of him slowly backed out of the small space, revealing the two cubs behind him. One seemed to be the lion's son, and the other looked like a female. Ed's mouth twitched in a weak attempt at a smile. Just like in the books he'd read back when he was a kid…

"You'll have to ride on my back," the adult lion stated, shaking his mane to rid himself of the dust from the cave ceiling. Ed paused for a moment, trying to figure out what he should do now. Obviously, these animals meant him no harm, but where were they taking him?

Another look at his leg sent Ed into a quiet panic. He wasn't in any condition to argue. Hell, he could die out here, and then where would he be? _Lion food, probably,_ he mused as he slowly pushed himself out of the space.

"Edward, my name is Mufasa," the adult lion said. "This is my son Simba, and his friend Nala."

Ed nodded his greetings to the cubs. He was sure he'd get to know them later on, but right now he had to focus on the matter at hand…

"Can you pull yourself onto my back?" Mufasa asked as Ed made a vain attempt at standing.

Ed nodded and somehow got onto Mufasa's back, grimacing at the pain that shot through his legs as Mufasa stood. He looked around as they started on their way, hoping to see this 'Pride Rock' that Mufasa had mentioned. He really didn't think he'd be able to make it too far…

---------------

Simba watched Edward curiously as they made their way back to Pride Rock, as Mufasa got Sarabi's assistance in creating a comfortable place for him to lie down, and as Edward slowly lay on the cushioned stone, his chest heaving from the effort.

"Simba, Nala, go outside."

"Aw, dad…" Simba complained. "Why can't we stay in here?"

"Because Edward is injured and right now, he needs to rest. You can come back when he's doing better."

Simba scowled and reluctantly padded out of the large cavern, Nala trailing behind. Man, he really wanted to see more of the human…

-----------------

Once his son was out of the cave, Mufasa lay down next to the human, resting his head so that he was looking Edward in the eyes.

"How did you get so far away from your kind?" he asked.

Edward looked down for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought, before answering. "I'm not quite sure. I was… running from someone, and then I lost my footing and fell… and when I woke up…"

"So you don't remember."

Edward shook his head. "I mean, it would make sense if you lived near that town nearby, but…"

"There are no human settlements anywhere near here," Mufasa finished. "Even with our speed, you would have had to travel for days to get this far, and look at yourself."

Edward let out a low moan as he shifted into a more comfortable position. "I guess I'm stuck, then, huh?"

"For the moment, yes," Mufasa answered.

The pain in the human's eyes was surprisingly abundant, and Mufasa found himself thinking of Simba. Imagine having to see that pain in your own son's eyes.

There was a rattling at the entrance to the cave. Mufasa and Edward both turned their gazes to the figure making its way toward them.

"Is this the human?" Rafiki asked, stopping right in front of the two. "What happened to you?" he directed the question to the human.

"I fell," Edward replied.

"You understand me? Good, this will be much more fun."

"Fun…?"

"You wouldn't want a boring impossible to understand old thing like me taking care of you, right? Hold still now, we have much to take care of this afternoon. Preferably without a certain king and his pride watching."

Mufasa sighed dramatically and nodded to Sarabi. "Shall we join the others?"

"I suppose we could," Sarabi replied, walking regally to the cave entrance. Mufasa smiled and followed. Edward would probably be just fine.

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Because, you know, I figure Rafiki's gotta know _something_ about medicine with the type of character he is… If you disagree, then I call… ARTISTIC LICENSE! -poof-

Just so you know, the chapters for this fic are going to be pretty short, and yes, there will be an explanation for why Ed can talk to them, but it will come later. Much, much later.

Also, I bought fuzzy slippers the other day. I love them. Now my feet don't freeze during the day. :D


	3. Chapter 3

"You're lucky old Rafiki is here to help, otherwise you'd have to do this all by yourself," the monkey said as he mashed some items in a bowl. Ed watched with some curiosity as Rafiki spoke, wondering just how the hell this was supposed to work. He was in a lion's den, seriously injured, and a monkey was tending his various wounds. No, something was definitely wrong with this.

"No, no, this won't work," Rafiki suddenly said, pointing to Ed's legs. "You'll have to take those off."

Ed nervously looked down at his pants. Yeah, he was wearing boxers underneath, but what if he had to take those off as well? This did not bode well… Not having any other choice, however, Ed complied, undoing the belt and slowly pulling the pants down. He'd have to fix them with alchemy later…

"Those too," Rafiki said as Ed finally pulled his legs out of the leather. Ed groaned. The monkey was pointing right at his boxers.

He reached for the fabric, figuring this was why the monkey had sent Mufasa and Sarabi out of the cave, but suddenly a hand stopped him.

"Ha ha! Just kidding! I just wanted to see if it's true that humans don't like revealing that part of their bodies."

Ed rolled his eyes and fell back with a scowl, ignoring the twinge of pain in his head. Rafiki picked up the bowl again and stuck his fingers in the concoction before gently applying it to one of the cuts on Ed's leg. Ed let out a pained hiss. He must have landed on some pretty sharp rocks…

"These look more like claw marks to me," Rafiki noted as he continued. "Are you sure you only fell?"

Ed twitched in pain as the monkey continued applying whatever it was. "That's what I remember happening, at least…"

"So you don't know?"

Ed shook his head before lying back and staring at the cave ceiling. This was just too weird, he felt like he was inside some children's story…

"Count to three."

Ed blinked. "Wha?"

"Count to three."

Ed frowned for a moment as he complied. "One, two, three…"

"Now backwards."

"Three, tw-"

"Nope! Wrong!" Rafiki cackled, putting Ed even more on edge than he had been before. "Eerht, owt, eno! That's how you do it!"

Ed scowled. "And the point of this is…?"

"Testing your ability to think. You hit your head, but your mind still works. You'll be fine. But now, you rest."

_Finally…_

"But before I go, I have a question for you."

"Okay…"

"Have you ever wanted to become a lion?"

Ed blinked. "Yeah, I guess I did a few times when I was a kid, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has nothing to do with nothing. Just a question."

"Okay…"

"Go to sleep now. Things will be better after you rest."

Ed let out a resigned sigh and closed his eyes. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice… "Fine. Thank you."

Ed thought he heard a response, but he was already fading. Soon, he knew nothing but the black emptiness of a dreamless sleep.

---------------

After a while, Simba saw Rafiki come out of their den, and he immediately got Nala. Together, they snuck up in order to hear the conversation being held, but it was impossibly hard with the two of them together, so Simba ended up having to go alone. He approached just as the conversation ended.

"That spirit is still intact. He will become aware of it eventually," he heard Rafiki say before his name was called. Simba cringed and backed away a good distance before trying to casually walk up to his father.

"Yes, dad?" he asked, hoping that he wouldn't blow his cover.

"Don't mention what you just overheard to Edward. He has to find out on his own."

Simba cringed. So he _had_ been found out. "Okay."

-- --- .-. … . / -.-. --- -.. . / .-.. --- .-..

Cold.

That was the main sensation that caused Ed to come to his senses. He looked out to the cave opening. The sun was setting, something that would have been more intriguing if Ed weren't lying on a cold stone floor with nothing to cover him. No, this was not a happy occasion.

And once again, he thought of the more pressing issue: where the hell was he? Seriously, there was no way any of this could be happening. If he weren't injured, he'd do something about it, but…

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Ed started and looked up. Mufasa was standing over him, looking down at him with a friendly smile.

"Can't sleep," Ed finally muttered, turning back to look outside. He decided to ignore the fact that he was having an intelligent conversation with a giant cat that could easily bite his head off. Hell, he was surprised he was still alive at this point in time for that same reason.

It was at that moment that Ed had a revelation.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Actually, no. I've got it all figured out."

"Really?"

Ed nodded. "Yep. I can't be dead, otherwise I wouldn't be thinking clearly or feeling pain. The same goes for being unconscious. And since there's absolutely no way any of this could actually be happening, the only possible explanation is that I'm in a hospital and I'm hallucinating. Now I just need to wait for Shuichi to show up and I'll know I'm right."

There was a momentary silence in the cave. Then Mufasa roared, and boy, was it loud.

Ed was in shock for a good minute. Then finally, once he regained his hearing and his ability to move, he stared at Mufasa for a very long time. He didn't quite know what to say.

"Still think this is a hallucination?" Mufasa asked.

Ed scowled and continued to look outside. Okay, so either someone had realized he was hallucinating about lions and had decided to play a little joke on him, or this was real. However, he decided not to say anything, in case this was real and saying something offensive would result in Mufasa biting his head off.

"Get some rest. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to eat, I'm afraid."

Ed let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He didn't really care about food right this minute. He was hungry, sure, but he wanted to sleep more. He pulled his jacket around him as best he could and waited for sleep to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Wow, this chapter's SUPER short! Or at least, I think it is…

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"I still don't think it's safe for him to be here," Zazu repeated as he and Mufasa wandered around Pride Rock. The sun had set, and darkness was coming down on the savannah. "What if the rumors are true?"

"He's only a boy," Mufasa replied. "He's injured, and he seems to realize we're not a threat to him."

"He almost killed you!"

"He wouldn't have. He doesn't seem capable of taking a life so easily. Besides, he was afraid and confused. Anyone would have done the same thing he did."

"Very well, but I still think we need to get him out of here as soon as possible."

"I agree. He must have a family that misses him." Mufasa stopped and looked out over the vast grass-covered fields. "In the meantime, try not to let your mistrust show."

"Yes, your majesty."

After a while, Mufasa returned to the cave. Simba had finally been allowed inside, under the condition that he be absolutely quiet. The cub was now sniffing Edward curiously, and he was about to poke the human with his paw when he saw Mufasa watching him.

"Um, hi, dad," Simba said, trying to act casual. "I was just getting ready for bed…"

"Nice try. Didn't I tell you not to disturb him?"

"Sorry."

Mufasa smiled at his wayward son and gestured to the back of the cave. Simba got the hint, slowly walked back and lay down. Mufasa then watched Edward for a while. The human seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough, but a closer look showed that he was shivering.

After a moment, Edward rolled onto his right side and made a feeble attempt to curl into a ball. At that moment, one of the nearby lionesses approached.

"He must be freezing without fur," she said. "Poor little guy."

Mufasa looked down at her. "Would you mind…" he began, gesturing with his head toward Edward.

"Not at all," she replied, and she walked around and lay down next to Edward. A few minutes later, another lioness approached and lay down on Edward's other side. Mufasa smiled to himself as he checked on his son. Edward would be fine tonight.

-----------------

When Ed woke up, he felt some sort of pressure on his chest. He slowly opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and closed them again. Something was off here; all he could see was gold. Oh well, maybe he'd regain his vision if he kept his eyes shut for a while longer…

He opened his eyes again a while later, after drifting unintentionally drifting off to sleep. It was much the same as last time, his vision was obscured by gold, but this time he heard voices, and the gold moved.

The pressure on his chest increased slightly, and Ed found himself moving against his will. He moved his head a bit and looked up to see a lot of sharp teeth. He froze.

Pressure on his chest, gold, teeth… Damn, he was about to get his head chomped off by a lion.

He lay perfectly still. Maybe he'd survive if he pretended he didn't know what was going on. If he struggled, he'd definitely die. There was no way he'd survive against a lion. No, make that two lions. He could see one jaw, but he could feel a hot breath on the back of his neck. Great, he was going to be ripped in half by two lions who each wanted a part of the meat…

"Be careful of his arm," he heard Mufasa say. Oh, of course, who would want to break their teeth on a big hunk of metal? Ed considered struggling against his captors, using alchemy or something along those lines, but he probably wouldn't be able to move quickly enough. Unless he was subtle in his movements…

"That's why we're waiting for him to wake up," he heard a female voice say. It sounded like the one behind him. Oh, so they were going to wait until he could feel them tearing through his flesh and-

"I think he's awake now," said another female voice, and Ed shrank back as the teeth moved down to his level, accompanied by the rest of the head. This was it, he was going to die here, he knew it-

"Edward?"

Ed blinked. Did they want to tell him he was about to die? He thought he could have figured it out on his own, but he wasn't really in a position to argue.

To his surprise, however, the pressure eased on his chest, and Ed pulled his left arm in front of him to inspect it. It looked like he'd be fine. He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, only to come face-to-face with Mufasa.

"I hope that didn't startle you," the lion said. "We didn't want you to get sick from the cold."

Ed blinked a few more times. So he _wasn't_ about to be eaten by lions? _Well, great, now I feel stupid. Good thing I didn't say anything…_

"Are you feeling any better today?" Mufasa asked.

"Yeah, some…" Ed replied. Okay, if the lions couldn't speak to him, then he'd be more likely to believe this, but… he was talking. To lions. This was not good, not good at all…

"Are you still in denial?" Mufasa asked. Ed looked up. Dang, the beastie could see right through him.

"Yes?" Immediately after he spoke, Ed cringed. He sounded stupid, afraid, young… He'd have to work on keeping his voice level around these peop- creatures.

"I see," Mufasa said before walking toward the entrance to the cave. "Let's sit outside for a while."

Ed nodded and pushed himself to his feet. His right leg was weak, but his automail was fine; what was left of his leg could still support him. He slowly limped outside and sat down near the edge of the rock, looking out at the surrounding landscape. It was breathtaking.

"You can probably see it for yourself, but there are no humans around here," Mufasa said as he sat down next to Ed. "It's a good thing we can understand one another."

"Yeah," Ed replied. It probably would have been the same either way, but at least he didn't have to live in constant fear of getting his head chomped off. Or at least, it was a less prominent fear. He still wasn't sure whether he could trust these peo- creatures.

"It's so familiar," Ed said after a while.

"Hm? You sound surprised."

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly live somewhere where lions roam the land. All I know is what I learned in school, and that wasn't much," Ed replied as he leaned back against the stone. "It's just that, even though I _really_ want to go back and find my brother, part of me feels like I belong here. In a way, it's like home."

"Perhaps there's a reason it feels that way," Mufasa suggested.

Ed shrugged. "Well, there _is_ a lot of grass. And there's nothing here."

"There's plenty here. You just can't see it yet."

Ed looked back at Pride Rock, where the cubs, Simba and Nala if he remembered correctly, were playing. "No, I guess not."

--------------

So, just in case it wasn't clear, when Mufasa said something about Ed's arm, it was a warning not to disturb Ed's arm, because it's injured…? Gah, I don't remember if it was or not, and I'm too tired and lazy to check it/rewrite it, so I'm just leaving it. Now for some random thoughts to make this chapter seem longer than it actually is:

1. For some reason, I find the fact that lion was misspelled as loin in one of my reviews incredibly funny. Almost as funny as breandead, but not quite. And it's nowhere near as funny as those times I just can't get the key combos right for smileys on MSN… (and I get the feeling my good ol' breandead friend will be commenting on this over yahoo messenger next time we chat…)

2. I tried to see if I could think of a reasonable Danny Phantom/CSI crossover plot, but somehow, I failed. I just couldn't do it.

-cough-

Now is the time for you to be in absolute shock. Although, now that I think about it, I can picture something along the lines of:

CSI character: We found your son's fingerprint on the roof of the Hazmat Hotel (lol making up stuff).

Jack: Well, that's odd. I didn't even know that was a hotel.

Danny: -to himself- Wait a minute, I wear gloves in ghost mode!

Yeah. That's all I got.

3. So, just as I was trying to think of something to put as 3, the fire alarm went off, and all of us got to go outside at 12:45. In Montana. At night. Half of us wearing flip flops and the rest wearing sneakers or slippers (I had my fuzzy slippers :3). Because some moron just had to be stupid and made a smoke bomb go off on one of the floors. I just now got back inside, and it's… 1:26. Good thing the only class I have tomorrow is an art lecture…

Okay, so the chapter's up to four pages and 5 lines, that's good enough for me. XD


	5. Chapter 5

Surprisingly quick update today…

Two days later, Ed was finally able to walk without any trouble, and while he still had that initial panic when he woke up to fur in his face, he was beginning to accept it. Slowly but surely, against his will, he was becoming accustomed to living with lions.

Today he was spending his time with Simba, exploring the area where they'd first met to see if there was any clue as to how he'd gotten there. As he looked, he realized that it was very similar to the place he'd been while running from Scar. Did that mean the Ishbalan had arrived as well?

"So how come humans can't talk to the rest of us?" Simba asked as Ed climbed a rock to get a better view of the area. Ed had already lifted Simba up there, since there was no place nearby for the cub to climb up on his own, and Ed didn't want to bother looking for one.

"Dunno," Ed replied. "I figured it's because each species has different kinds of vocal cords, but if animals can communicate with each other, then I wouldn't know why it's different for humans."

"Well, you've got funny limbs," Simba pointed out. "Maybe humans are just weird."

Ed laughed. "Yeah, that could be it. Although some are stranger than others."

"Like you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed snapped.

Simba laughed. "You're fun to mess with. I just meant that humans can't talk to us, but you can. Don't you think that's weird?"

Ed blinked. "Well, yeah, but still… I'm not weird," he muttered as he began walking along the ridge.

"You know, I don't think Zazu likes you," Simba said after a while. They had stopped for a while and were now sitting at the edge of the rock, Ed's legs dangling off the edge.

"Who, that bird with the superiority complex? That's fine. I don't like him either," Ed replied. "But I do understand his reasons," he continued. "Some humans have done horrible things."

"What do you mean?" Simba asked.

"War, for one thing," Ed replied. "And some are greedy; they take everything they want with no concern for others. They completely ignore equivalent exchange."

"Equivalent exchange?"

Ed nodded. "In order to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost. It means you can't just take everything without giving something back."

"Oh. Kinda like how we eat antelope, but they eat grass?"

Ed blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, my dad said that our bodies become grass after we die."

Ed smiled. "Yeah, like that. We may die, but after a while, our bodies decompose and give nutrients to other living things, like the grass, and then that passes on to other beings, and the cycle continues."

"My dad called it the Circle of Life."

Ed looked out at the savannah, a smile on his face. Despite the fact that his brain was aching from the lack of logic in the current situation, he felt happy; happier than he'd ever felt in a place without his brother. "Your dad's very smart."

"Yeah, he's brave, too," Simba said. "He can take on a pack of hyenas all by himself!"

"That's probably because he's so big," Ed replied. "And he has a lot he needs to protect."

"Yeah, if he didn't like you, he could have killed you in a flash!"

Ed shuddered. "Heh heh… yeah, he sure could have…"

"Good thing the king is noble, eh?" came a voice from behind them. Ed was immediately on guard. That voice wasn't friendly. It sounded menacing, and… well, like everyone did when they were plotting something, and Ed didn't like it. He looked back to see a lion with dark fur standing behind him. There was a look in his eyes; a look that confirmed Ed's suspicions. This particular lion was _not_ to be trusted under any circumstances.

"Oh, hi, uncle Scar!" Simba exclaimed. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Oh, just here and there. I've been doing a few… things for the good of the kingdom," Scar replied. "I see you've made friends with the _human_."

Ed did not like the way the word was stressed. He scowled at the lion, but Simba seemed to miss the tension. He simply nodded happily. "Yeah, we're looking to see if there's something to get him back home," the cub stated.

"A valiant task, of course," Scar said, looking Ed over once before smiling. "We haven't been introduced, have we? I am Scar, the king's frequently overlooked younger brother."

Ed forced a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Scar. My name is Edward."

"A pleasure, to be sure. However, you don't seem too pleased. Do I frighten you? After all, humans are naturally suspicious of everything."

"Not at all," Ed replied good-naturedly. "I was just startled when I heard your name, that's all. It's the same name as someone I, ah, encountered the other day."

"Is that so? Might I ask whom it was?"

Ed shrugged. "Oh, just some guy who mercilessly kills people of my profession and has tried to kill me on more than one occasion." Ed paused for a moment before smiling, perhaps a little too cheerfully than the situation called for, but he felt it was necessary for this. "Oh, but just because you have the same name doesn't mean I'll associate him with you. After all, _his_ scar was x-shaped."

Scar frowned. He looked rather irritated. "I see. Well, forgive me for intruding upon your conversation, but I felt the need to introduce myself to such a handsome young man. I look forward to speaking with you again, Edward," he said before standing and walking slowly away. Ed watched him go for a moment before turning back to Simba.

"There's someone who wants to kill you?" Simba asked, shock evident in his voice.

"Yeah, but he hasn't succeeded, otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you right now," Ed replied. _Unless I really did die and this is some sort of strange reincarnation thing… but that wouldn't work, would it?_

"Well, I'm glad he didn't kill you. You're fun to talk to. You're kinda like my dad, but less strict."

Ed laughed. "Well, if I were your dad, I'd be so strict you'd be begging for mercy."

"Yeah, right. I could beat you up right now," Simba retorted.

"Oh, yeah? Let's see you try!" Ed challenged, moving to a defensive stance. "I have to warn you, though, I'm pretty good at defending myself when I have to."

"Okay, you asked for it!" And with that, Simba pounced. Ed easily dodged, and he ran in the general direction of Pride Rock, laughing as he dodged the cub's attacks. They ran for a while like this before coming to the edge of the rocks, where there was a four or five foot drop. Ed easily jumped down to the grass below, and he looked up at the edge of the overhang, waiting for Simba to appear at the edge and ask for a lift down. However, the cub surprised him by leaping off the edge and slamming into Ed's chest, the force of the impact pushing Ed to the ground. Ed let out a startled cry, and when he hit the dirt, he looked up at Simba, who was now sitting on his chest, a smug smile etched into the cub's features.

"You were saying?"

Ed grinned. "Oh, you think you've won?" he asked before suddenly grabbing the cub and pushing himself to his feet, running back to Pride Rock as Simba protested and struggled against him. After a while, Simba wriggled out and climbed to Ed's shoulder, claws digging into the alchemist's skin but not doing any real damage.

"Run faster, mighty steed!" Simba shouted.

"In your dreams!" Ed retorted before suddenly stopping, causing the cub to lose his balance and forcing him to jump to the ground. Then Simba jumped again, once again pushing Ed off his feet, and they collapsed in a heap on the ground, both laughing and panting heavily. Ed's legs hurt, but he ignored it. Right now was definitely worth a little bit of pain.

"You know, you should just stay here and live with us," Simba said after a while. "That way me and Nala could have another friend."

Ed stared up at the sky for a while, not knowing what to say to the cub. He did want to stay here, that much was true, but he wanted his brother to be happy even more. Every moment here just reminded him of how much his brother was missing.

"I wish I could," Ed finally said, pushing himself to a sitting position. "But I have a little brother, and there's something I need to do for him. I would be the happiest person in the world if he could be here with us right now, able to feel again…"

"Your brother can't feel?" Simba asked.

"No, not right now. I made a really bad mistake a while ago, and he's suffering because of it. That's why I need to go back to him."

"Oh. Well, when you fix him, will you come back?"

Ed smiled down at the cub. "I'd really like to. I'll try my best."

"Good. What's your brother like?"

Ed thought about it for a moment as he got to his feet. "Well, he's really nice. If he could smile right now, he'd probably be smiling most of the time, and he's always trying his best to help the people around him. He's a real softie when it comes to animals, too. If there's a kitten stuck out in the rain, he'll take it inside and take care of it. He's a lot like our mother, now that I think about it. And he's a lot stronger than I am," he finished with a sad laugh. "I've never won a fight against him, even though I'm the older brother and I should be the tough one and I'm supposed to be taking care of him…"

"Sounds like he's got you beat," Simba said as they got close to Pride Rock. "I want to meet him now."

"I'll bring him with me if I come back here," Ed said.

"Good."

Ed smiled. He really hadn't been around kids lately, and it was refreshing, even though technically Simba was a cub. He wished once again that he could stay here, with Al at his side, and maybe even with Winry. He looked down at Simba once again. "Oh, by the way…"

"What?"

"If I were your dad we'd be the same species."

--------------

"That son of yours seems to be fascinated with that little boy you've found."

Mufasa continued to walk, unfazed by his brother's tone. "Is that right?"

"I stumbled upon the two earlier today. That human was speaking very highly of you. If I didn't know any better, I would say he was attempting to gain Simba's trust."

"Are you saying he's planning on using my son for some plan of his?" Mufasa asked.

"Of course not. That would be rude," Scar replied. "And it certainly has nothing to do with the rumors of white humans approaching the Pride Lands with their foul machines and destructive ways."

Mufasa raised an eyebrow. "When did you hear this?"

"Oh, sometime yesterday. Of course, it was from a meerkat, so it may only be a rumor."

"Let's hope so," Mufasa said.

--------------

Okay, you gotta admit, Ed and Simba together has got to be the cutest thing on the face of the earth. (maybe cuter with lil' Ed, but you get the idea)

Also, for those of you who haven't read FMA chapter 77, which came out in November, this is a sweet little extra page we got with it: i80 dot photobucket dot com slash albums slash j185 slash junodog slash 01-1 dot jpg

Now make it a link and marvel in my ability to predict the future of FMA. (This story came out before the new chapter did, ya know…)


	6. Chapter 6

Hur hur hur, I'm actually updating this fic. Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but I've been updating on a different site with a different story… So yeah, if you like LotR goodness, got to lotrfanfiction and look me up. I would put that fic up here, but I have reasons not to, and blah blah blah I'm lazy. Get over it.

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It was quiet when Ed woke up the next morning, and for once, he didn't have fur in his face when he opened his eyes. He took a minute to rub his eyes and sat up, observing his surroundings and trying to make sense of the lack of lionesses.

"They went out hunting," Simba said from right behind him, causing Ed to start. He looked back at the cub, who was staring curiously at Ed. "How come you slept so late?"

"Eh… I didn't get to sleep for a while last night," Ed lied. In truth, he'd had a few nightmares, and he hadn't been able to sleep for a while after waking up drenched in a cold sweat. Okay, so it was sort of true…

"Oh. I guess it's kinda weird sleeping with lions if you aren't used to it."

Ed laughed nervously. In truth, he'd gotten used to it by now, and part of him liked it, but he didn't like to admit it. It made him feel like a little kid.

"So, me and Nala are going out with my dad to see part of the kingdom. Dad said I should ask if you wanted to come."

"Sure," Ed replied. It was either that or sit around here for the day, and that would probably be dangerous, considering the fact that Scar didn't seem to like him. He got up, pulled off his red coat and black jacket, and followed Simba outside. Nala and Mufasa were waiting for them, and they set off. Ed glanced back at Pride Rock once as they walked; Scar was staring at them from the shadows. Ed glared back at the lion before turning back to what he was doing.

They walked for a while through the plains, the cubs running in front and tackling one another. Ed watched them as they approached a gorge and Mufasa called for them to return.

"Stay away from the edge. It's a long way down."

"Okay," Simba and Nala answered in unison before running off. Ed looked over at the gorge before turning to Mufasa.

"What are we doing here?" he asked after he sat down in the grass.

"There's something I want to talk to you about," Mufasa replied. When he noticed Ed glancing at the cubs, he smiled reassuringly. "They won't hear. They're too busy playing their games."

Ed nodded. "What is it?"

"I heard from my brother that you and Simba were talking about me yesterday."

Ed blinked, trying to understand what Mufasa meant. He hadn't really said anything about him, had he? Then it hit him. "Oh, right. I dunno, somehow we ended up talking about the Circle of Life you told him about, and… well, if I had listened to my teacher when she told me about it, I wouldn't have this," he said, pointing to his right arm. "Of course, I doubt Simba will ever get the same idea that I did, but it's still important to know."

"I thought it might be something like that," Mufasa said. "My brother seems to have gotten the wrong impression of you."

_Talk about putting it lightly,_ Ed thought as he rested his arm on his leg. "I honestly don't know how that happened. I mean, he seems… well…"

"Don't bother. I know he can be like that at times, but it's best not to let it get to you."

Ed blinked. "Sure…"

"That really is the only thing you talked about, isn't it?"

"Oh. Yeah, pretty much." Ed frowned. He had a pretty good idea of where this was going. "Listen, about that–"

"No, I understand. I'm just concerned that my brother may have been right about something else."

"Something else?"

Mufasa checked to see where Simba and Nala were before turning to Ed and lowering his voice. "You're absolutely positive that there are no other humans on their way to this place."

"Yes. Unless they get here the same way I did, but they would have no reason to be here unless they're–" Ed said before stopping. _Scar…_

"Is something wrong?" Mufasa asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"S-someone might come looking for me," Ed whispered after a while. "He shares your brother's name, and he wants me dead for various reasons."

"You're afraid of him?" Mufasa asked.

Ed nodded. "He's strong. He would have killed me the first time we met if someone hadn't arrived to help me, and I was running from him when I arrived here."

Mufasa looked thoughtfully at Ed for a moment. "I didn't notice any signs of any other humans when we found you. It's possible he didn't follow you."

"I hope so," Ed said, mostly to himself. He didn't want to make any trouble for these creatures. Except for Scar, and maybe Zazu…

"Well, I think that's all that needs to be said," Mufasa said after a while. "Edward, don't think I'll let a few words from my brother sway my opinion about you. You haven't given me any reason to doubt you so far."

Ed nodded quietly and turned to look at the gorge. Whether Mufasa had a good opinion of him or not didn't matter. Something still told him that he'd be facing trouble soon.

---------------

As the last daylight faded and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, Ed found himself right in the middle of what he called the pile o' lions. He lay on his back for a while, staring at the ceiling and wondering if he could get out without waking anyone up. After a while, he decided to hope that he wouldn't have any reason to get up during the night and closed his eyes.

Sometime near dawn, Ed woke up with a weight on his chest. He looked down to see Simba sleeping on him, his paws spread out and a content look on his face. Ed smiled and lay back down, figuring he'd wait a while before pushing the cub off of him.

A minute later, Simba woke up on his own and shoved a paw in Ed's face to get his attention. Ed shoved his hand into the lion's face in response and slowly pushed himself to a sitting position.

"What is it?" he asked in a whisper, stretching his limbs as best he could.

"Come on, there's something really cool outside," the cub replied before jumping lightly over the other lions and walking outside. Ed followed more slowly, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. He was on his guard today; something told him he needed to be.

"What exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Ed asked after they had stood outside for a few minutes.

"There's something out here that Uncle Scar said would be really cool," Simba replied.

So that was it. Scar was drawing them both outside for some sort of trap. Ed was immediately on his guard, but by that time, it was too late. He didn't know what hit him, but he clearly remembered hitting the cold stone and feeling something sharp enter his leg. Then all was black.

---------------

Simba was surprised to see his uncle standing over a now unconscious Ed, but the look on Scar's face made him snap back to reality fairly quickly. Something had to be wrong with Ed. There was no way he could have been hurt by someone.

"Uncle Scar?" he called out tentatively. Scar was pawing at Ed's leg, and Simba could see a little dark spot on Ed's pants, near his right knee.

"Simba! You must be careful around him. He's trying to trick you!" Scar exclaimed.

"What? No, Ed's nice! He's my friend," Simba replied bluntly. There was no way Ed would ever do anything to him.

"Oh, Simba, if only you knew the truth. Humans are liars. They kill our kind for sport. Not just lions, either. Any animal they come across, even others of their kind, are all considered fair game for their cruel sports. Those they don't kill end up in captivity. Simba, he was going to kidnap you!"

"No, he wasn't!" Simba exclaimed.

"Simba, Simba, I'd like to believe you, I really would, but this boy cannot be trusted. The only proof that could change my mind about him is in the cave where he was found."

"Then I'll find it. I'll find it and prove he isn't bad."

"Very well," Scar said before gesturing to the rocks in the distance. Simba took one last look at Ed before running off to the place where Ed had been found. He _would_ prove Ed innocent. He had to.

-------------

When Ed awoke, he found himself face-to-face with Scar, not a pleasant situation in the least. He instinctively tried to get up, but there was a heavy weight on both his shoulders, along with his upper legs. Ed took a quick look to see that the lion was sitting on him.

"What are you doing?" Ed asked none too politely. He kept an eye on the lion as he checked around for Simba. They were no longer on Pride Rock, but somewhere nearby. Simba was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, just protecting my pride from certain threats," Scar replied casually, lifting a paw from Ed's shoulders and looking at it.

"Oh, so I'm a threat now?" Ed asked.

Scar leaned down close to Ed's face, an eerie grin on his face. He placed his paw on Ed's throat this time and began to push. "Precisely."

Ed tried to push against the paw on his throat, but to no avail. He began kicking and punching at the beast, trying to get himself freed, but it was difficult when he couldn't breathe. After a while, he stopped struggling and attempted to let out a resigned sigh. _Looks like I'll have to use alchemy here._

"Struggle all you like," Scar said. "I saw you leave with Simba this morning. I heard the struggle from a distance. And then when I finally caught up, Simba was gone. It seems we can't trust you after all, eh?"

"No! I didn't do anything!" Ed shouted. He managed to bring his hands together and placed one on the ground. It sent a massive chunk of earth slamming into the lion, and Ed used this opportunity to get to his feet. He quickly scaled a nearby boulder and moved into a defensive stance in case Scar managed to follow him.

"Oh, really? Prove it," Scar replied, his voice full of thinly veiled rage. Ed was surprised. He'd thought that Scar didn't care about his family at all, but if Simba was really missing…

"I can't prove it! I got knocked out and then I woke up with _you_ in my face!"

Scar began circling around the boulder. Ed kept watching him, waiting for him to strike, but the lion made no move to attack. He simply continued pacing. "Perhaps you could give a description of the one who knocked you out?"

"No. I didn't see anything," Ed stated.

"Then I have no choice but to kill you for what you have done," Scar growled before suddenly leaping up the boulder. Ed jumped out of the way and landed neatly on the ground nearby. From there, he clapped his hands again and placed one on the ground, creating a wall between him and Scar just as the lion leaped at him again. When Ed heard the thud, he got up and ran again. When he heard Scar running at him again, Ed jumped to the side and rolled out of harm's way before creating another wall between him and Scar. He couldn't kill him; that would just make him look worse, but he had to stay alive so that he could tell the truth. He had to be able to find Simba again. He had to go back to Al when this ended. He had to stay alive.

He continued making his way up to Pride Rock, jumping and using his superior flexibility to avoid being killed, and using alchemy only when he had no other alternative. He was almost there when his flesh leg finally gave out, and he tripped and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Scar was on top of him immediately.

"Scar!" Mufasa shouted from the ledge. Ed never thought he'd be so happy to hear that voice, and he and his captor stared up at the stone. Mufasa slowly made his way down, followed by the rest of the pride, and they circled the two in a minute.

"Let him go, Scar," Mufasa said. "And explain yourself."

"Yes, of course," Scar replied, and he stepped lightly off of Ed. Ed slowly pushed himself to a sitting position and gripped his leg. It was bleeding profusely at the knee. "Well, brother, I don't quite know how to explain it, but it seems your guest has captured your son."

"No, I didn't!" Ed snapped. "I-"

"I found him walking among the stones over there and," Scar said, gesturing to the place with his paw. "I saw him leave with Simba earlier, but Simba was nowhere to be found. I'm sorry, brother."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ed snapped again. "Someone knocked me out!"

"Silence!"

Ed cringed. This wasn't looking too good for him. Of course Mufasa would take his brother's word over some kid's… He looked up to see Mufasa staring straight at him.

"Where is my son?" he asked.

"I don't know," Ed muttered.

"Tell me the truth."

"That is the truth. I don't know." Ed's head was aching terribly, and he could feel something wet on his cheek. It was probably blood, but Ed didn't want to risk checking. He was in enough danger as it was.

It was silent for a moment before Ed glanced up at Mufasa. The king looked troubled and angry, and Ed didn't blame him. Finally, Mufasa looked back at Ed.

"Get up."

Ed weakly pushed himself to his feet. His right leg could barely hold his weight, but it held up well enough for the moment.

"Come with me."

Ed trudged quietly behind Mufasa until they were inside Pride Rock. Once there, he took Ed further inside and pointed to a small opening in the wall. It looked barely big enough to fit him.

"You'll stay in there until one of two things happen. If my son is found alive, then I will let you out. If proof is found of your innocence, I will let you out. If I find that he's been killed, however…"

Ed gave a blank nod. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He entered the small space and watched as another lion lay down next to the opening. A guard.

As soon as Ed had wrapped his leg well enough to stop the bleeding, he wiped the wet spot on his face. It was, as he had thought, his blood. As soon as he found the wound, Ed tore a length of cloth from his coat and wrapped it around his head. After he was sure there were no more injuries, Ed pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his head in his arms. He didn't bother trying to clean the blood from his face.

His frustrated tears would do that for him.

-----------------

How about that, eh? Plot! And some angst, of course.


	7. Chapter 7

Wow, quick update. I surprise myself sometimes.

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After about ten minutes, Simba was about ready to give up on his search. How the heck was he supposed to prove Ed was innocent if he couldn't find the proof that Scar had promised would be here? Plus, he didn't know how much he liked being here. Something seemed… different.

He paced around for a while, trying to think. No, he had to find proof to save Ed. Ed was his friend. He would have done the same for him.

After a while, he heard footsteps. They sounded kinda like Ed's, but not like that metal leg that Ed had. Maybe it was a normal human. He turned to look for it, but it found him first.

Simba let out a surprised yell when he felt something grab him by the neck and pull him up off the ground. He swiped his paws at whatever it was, trying to hit the hand that was holding him. Then the hand turned, turning Simba along with it, and he found himself face-to-face with a red-eyed human with a scar on his face.

Immediately, what Ed had said to Scar a few days ago came rushing back to him, and he tried even harder to scratch this other Scar. However, his paws couldn't quite reach, and after the human looked at him for a moment, Simba found himself staring back out at the rocks. Scar was taking him somewhere.

Soon they came to a cave, and Scar continued to hold Simba by the neck while he grabbed something from a bag. Scar tied one end tightly around Simba's neck and tied the other around a rock that stood straight up off the ground. Simba tried pawing at the thing, but Scar grabbed him and began tying his paws together. Simba tried biting the man, but even that was too hard. He was stuck.

They sat in that cave for a long time in silence before Scar spoke. "I don't know what you did, Fullmetal, but I never expected to see you like that."

Simba was surprised to learn that he could understand it. He decided to try talking to him.

"Let me go!" he shouted. It got Scar's attention, but the human just gave him a weird look. Simba decided to try again. "Why do you hate Ed so much?" he asked, but Scar still didn't look like he understood. Simba decided to try one more test, just to be sure. "Look! My dad's standing right outside this cave and he wants to kill you!" he shouted. Still no reaction.

"I suppose it's impossible for you to speak in that form," Scar said. "I doubt you can perform alchemy, either. Looks like I have no need for revenge against you."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Simba asked, forgetting that Scar wouldn't be able to understand him.

"Although, I must say it's rather fitting," Scar said after a while. "Edward Elric did seem to have the spirit of a lion."

Simba was stunned. This guy thought he was Ed? Was that why he was all tied up? "Hey! I'm not Ed!" Simba tried shouting, but Scar simply laughed.

"You should be grateful. I'm leaving you alive."

So Scar wanted to kill him? Simba got scared and began struggling again. After a while, though, Scar put a hand on him and stopped his movements. Simba gave up after a while. He couldn't see any way out of this.

A while later, Scar pulled something out of a bag and held it in front of Simba's nose. The cub sniffed curiously at it for a while. It smelled like food, but nothing he'd ever eaten before.

He ate it anyway. He was _really_ hungry.

--------------

Mufasa stared into the small alcove in which Edward sat. The human had fallen asleep a while ago, but he was still curled up into a fetal position. Of course, it wasn't as if there was much more room available for him, but there was nothing to be done about that.

As soon as Edward had been placed under surveillance, Mufasa had gone out with several lionesses and his brother to look for Simba. They had scoured the rock for hours, but there was no sign of him. It seemed he had been transported to Edward's home, and there was no way to follow him that Mufasa knew of. It seemed there was something more to opening the way.

When he had returned, he got the report that Edward hadn't moved after bandaging his various new injuries, and that he'd been crying in the beginning. Mufasa was certain that Ed hadn't been involved, but something had told him to treat him with suspicion at first, at least until he had a chance to hold a private conversation with the human.

Edward shivered as he slept on, and he instinctively pulled his red coat closer around him. Mufasa watched as the human curled up into an even tighter ball, resting his head against the far wall. He turned to the lioness that was going to guard him that night.

"It's going to be a long night. You might want to make sure you can feel it if he wakes up."

She caught on immediately and gave Mufasa a knowing smile. "Too bad he doesn't have fur, huh?"

Mufasa merely nodded. "It's no wonder humans wear clothes."

And with that, he left. There was nothing more that could be done tonight. He would speak with Edward in the morning.

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It was weird to wake up and not be able to move. Simba tried for another minute before he remembered what had happened the day before. With Ed, and Uncle Scar, and… Scar…

The human was gathering his things and stuffing them into a bag. Simba watched curiously for a while, all the while wondering how he would get out of this. First he needed to convince this Scar that he wasn't Ed, but how could he do that if he couldn't talk to them?

Eventually, Scar turned to him and untied his legs. Simba immediately tried to run, but his legs gave out on him before he could take one step. He couldn't really feel them, either.

"Where do you think you're going?" Scar asked, his voice stern but not as scary as Simba had thought it would be. "Just because I'm leaving you alive doesn't mean you can go where you wish."

Simba stayed in place for a while before trying again. He managed to sit up, but he didn't feel like trying to do more than that. Scar looked at him again and held out some more food. Simba sniffed at it suspiciously for a minute. Last time he'd eaten Scar's food he'd fallen asleep right after. He was determined not to do that this time.

"This isn't drugged," Scar said after a while. "Just eat it."

Simba finally decided to take a bite. He waited for a while, but he didn't feel himself get sleepy, so he ate the rest willingly. By this point in time, he could support himself, and he walked as far as the thing on his neck would let him. Once he was satisfied that his legs were fine again, Simba sat and stared expectantly at Scar.

"What should I do with you?" Scar asked after a while. "It's obvious you can't take care of yourself like that."

Simba growled at this comment. He could too take care of himself! Of course, maybe Ed wouldn't be able to, but he wasn't Ed.

"Perhaps I should take you to your brother," Scar said after a while. Then he got up and untied Simba before sticking him inside his bag. Simba tried to protest, but as he had recently figured out, it was a pointless attempt. At least Scar let him stick his head out.

He watched curiously as Scar walked towards a place with strangely colored big things. He had no idea what they were, but as they came closer, he saw more humans entering and exiting from a big plank that they could push. Maybe they were big caves or something. At any rate, Simba continued to watch from his position as Scar turned off his path and ran down a darker opening between two lines of the cave things.

All of a sudden, something jumped down and landed in front of them. It looked kinda like a human, but it was made entirely out of metal and it had lots of spikes sticking out of it. It stood in a funny stance, as if it was waiting for something.

"Alphonse Elric," Scar growled. Simba blinked. That was Ed's brother's name. "What are you doing here?"

"That's my line," Alphonse replied. "What did you do to my brother?"

"Strange, that's exactly why I came to find you," Scar said. "I haven't done anything to your brother. Someone else got to him first."

"Yeah, my dad!" Simba shouted. He was hoping that Alphonse would understand him.

"What's that in your bag?" Alphonse asked.

"As far as I can tell, it's a chimera. I thought I'd return it to you."

"What? Is this some kind of trick?"

"As I promised, I will not harm you. You aren't one of _them._" With that, Scar swung the bag off of his shoulder, causing Simba to feel momentarily sick, pulled him out, and placed him on the ground. "And I did not kill your brother because this seems to be a more fitting punishment. Take him."

Simba was very confused now. What did he mean by punishment? And why did everyone think he was Ed? And… where did Scar go? When he turned back to see the red-eyed human, he saw nothing.

"Brother…?" Alphonse asked tentatively. Simba turned and looked up at the big metal thing. Now what?

---------------

Is it just me or does this chapter seem to be going rather quickly? Oh well, nothing I can do about that… (meaning I'm too lazy to do anything…)

I often forget that my stories have names.


	8. Chapter 8

Too tired to comment on anything this time. Enjoy.

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Ed's head was throbbing mercilessly as he slowly came to senses. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what he was doing in such a strange position when he remembered. He'd been placed here after Simba had disappeared. Of course, when he'd drifted off into sleep, he hadn't been pinned between a rock and a lion…

"You're awake?" the lioness asked after a moment. Ed looked down. To his surprise, she didn't seem very angry with him. Had Simba been found?

"Whusgoinon?" Ed mumbled, then frowned. He really needed to stop talking while half awake and in pain…

The lioness let out a laugh. Ed cringed and gripped his head. This was incredibly painful. "Some of us are still looking for Simba. The rest are hunting. The king wants to speak with you when you've recovered some. You'll get some food later."

"Okay," Ed mumbled before burying his head in his arms and leaning back on the rock. It felt nice and cool against his skin, and Ed wondered momentarily if he had a fever. He took a minute to relax before he reached up with his hand to check. He was rather disappointed to realize it was his automail hand.

"Are you feeling okay?" the lioness asked after a while.

Ed shook his head and closed his eyes. He checked his forehead with his left hand, and to his relief, it wasn't burning. He was just a little out of it from everything that had happened yesterday.

He dozed off after a while; it wasn't until he felt a paw poking at his back that he managed to snap out of it and look outside. Mufasa was sitting in front of him; other than that, the cave was empty.

"We need to talk," the lion said.

"I already said it, I don't know what happened," Ed muttered before going back to his previous position.

"Then tell me what you do know."

"I…" Ed sighed and turned so that he was lying on his back, his knees bent due to the lack of space. "Simba wanted to show me something outside. When we got out there, something hit me and I hit my head on the stone."

"Then why didn't I find you there?" Mufasa asked.

"I don't know. I just woke up and Scar was accusing me of doing something with Simba…" Ed shut his eyes. He was aggravated. Why did everyone he cared about have to be hurt? He cared about… He did. He actually cared about the cub. Not as much as he cared about Al, but over the past few days, Simba really had become a good friend. Same with almost everyone else here, now that he thought about it. Well, except for Zazu…

"So you didn't see who attacked you?"

Ed shook his head wearily. "No. They caught me off guard."

"I see." Mufasa leaned down close to Ed's face. "Get some rest. I get the feeling that you weren't supposed to live through all this."

Ed blinked. Was Mufasa taking his side? But why? He'd been the one to force Ed into this space, and he'd seemed so angry the day before. Why had he changed his mind?

"If my son isn't found by the time you heal, I expect you to search for him. Do you have any problems with that?"

Ed looked up at Mufasa after a moment. The lion wasn't smiling, but his gaze was friendly somehow. He slowly nodded, determined to prove himself to these creatures. He _would_ bring Simba back.

"Good. I'll be watching you for the rest of the day. I wouldn't want my brother to lose his temper on you again."

_Scar._ So that was it. Mufasa probably didn't believe his brother either, but he didn't want to show it just yet. Besides, now that Ed thought about it, forcing him to stay in a confined space as a prisoner was probably the only to prevent him from going after Simba while he was so badly injured.

Or at least, that's what Ed hoped was the case. He decided to play along, just in case he was wrong and Mufasa decided to bite his head off. It was best to play it safe for a while.

-----------------

Simba was completely dumbfounded when Alphonse picked him up and looked him straight in the eye. Not only did he think that Simba was Ed, but he was just picking him up and staring at him now? What next?

"Brother, is that really you?" Alphonse asked.

"No! My name is Simba!" Simba shouted, shaking his head so hard it hurt, but Alphonse simply continued to look at him.

"I can't understand you if you're like that," Alphonse said. "Did Scar do this to you?"

"No," Simba answered, forgetting that Alphonse couldn't understand him.

"Just nod or shake your head."

Simba shook his head. He wasn't sure what Alphonse was talking about, but neither Scar he knew was responsible for the current situation.

"Okay, let's go back to East City. Maybe the Colonel will have an idea."

Simba panicked. He didn't want to go anywhere other than home right now, and he fought his hardest to break out of Alphonse's grip.

"Oh, come on, brother. It's not like we have much of a choice."

Simba gave up. It was clear that he wasn't going to win this argument. He let himself go limp and allowed Alphonse to carry him. They stopped just before coming into a big opening, and Alphonse turned around and walked a little ways back before kneeling, letting go of Simba, and opening the thing that covered his chest.

"Come on, brother, I don't think it'll be good if anyone sees you like this. You're a little too big to pass for a normal cat, you know."

Simba scowled. He wasn't a normal cat! He was the future king of lions! To his surprise and dismay, however, Alphonse took a look at his face and began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Simba asked, once again forgetting that Alphonse couldn't understand him.

"Sorry, brother, it's just that I've never seen you get upset about being called too big. Anyway, you'd better get in here. It's gonna be a few hours before we get to East City."

Simba hesitated for a minute before entering the small space. Then, with a few clunks, he was trapped inside the space, and he found himself trying to find a comfortable place as Alphonse stood and began walking.

He was let out some time later, and Simba found himself in a small space. He jumped up onto what seemed to a bed and looked curiously up at Alphonse.

"Careful of your claws, brother. They'll be mad if you tear the blankets."

Simba looked down and retracted his claws as Alphonse busied himself with packing. A few minutes later, Simba found himself inside that space again.

"You should be quiet during the train ride, brother. I could really get in trouble if someone finds out about you."

Simba let out a resigned sigh. Not being able to communicate was really getting on his nerves.

----------------

A few hours later, Simba found himself listening to a strange dialogue that obviously involved him. He placed his paws on the outer metal, trying to see if he could get a good look at whoever was outside. It seemed it was someone that knew Ed and Alphonse, or Al, as some people around here called him, pretty well.

"I'm surprised you came here alone," a deep voice remarked as Al sat down. "Where's Fullmetal?"

"That's… kind of what I came to talk to you about, Colonel," Al replied. "I think he got involved in a pretty big mess this time."

The Colonel groaned, and Simba tried not to laugh. It was obvious that Ed was as big a troublemaker as he was. "What did he destroy this time?"

"N-nothing! It's not like that, sir," Al stammered. "It's something he did to himself."

"What did he do?" the Colonel asked, his voice filled with concern.

"Um, well… I think someone's doing experiments with chimeras," Al said. Simba heard a clunk, and a little bit of light entered the space.

Another groan. "Don't tell me he's inside your armor, Alphonse."

"Sorry…" And with that, the metal was removed and Simba blinked before taking a step out of the armor. He took a few more steps before sitting on Al's knee and looking at the human in front of him. This one had black hair, and he looked rather startled to see Simba. The guy was _staring_ at him, for crying out loud!

"Are you sure it isn't just some stray lion?" the Colonel asked.

"How many lions can answer questions?" Al asked in response.

The colonel blinked. "Mind if I try it out?"

"Go ahead."

His current seat was getting rather uncomfortable, and Simba jumped lightly to the table in between him and the Colonel. He stepped forward and sat facing the older human.

"Fullmetal, is that you?"

Simba scowled, and he shook his head out of sheer stubbornness.

"Well, what do you know, he says he isn't," the Colonel remarked, though his voice sounded pretty tense.

"He did that with me, too," Al said. "But I guess he won't be able to tell us why, unless…"

The Colonel looked curiously at Al. "Unless what?"

"Do you have some paper and a pen?" Al asked.

-------------------

To Ed's relief, Mufasa allowed him to exit the space for a while that night. He didn't go very far, just far enough to be able to spread out his limbs, but it was still sheer bliss. It was starting to get uncomfortable in his little 'prison.'

He lay on the ground nearby, staring at the ceiling and wondering about various things. Had Simba been found yet? How long would it be before his body healed? What was Al doing at the moment? What about Scar…?

He let out a resigned sigh and curled up on his side, ignoring the jolt of pain in his knee as he did so. He needed to stop thinking. It wasn't doing him a lot of good.

"Your leg's bleeding," Mufasa remarked from nearby. Ed blinked, sat up, and inspected the wound. Sure enough, it had opened again. He sighed, leaned against the stone, and began applying pressure to his wound. Mufasa walked up and sat next to him.

"There is still no sign of my son," he said. "It looks like he found his way into your world."

Ed let out another sigh and shut his eyes. "I was afraid of that."

"What would happen if someone were to find him?"

Ed opened his eyes for a while to bandage his knee once again. "It really depends on who finds him. If my brother does, then he'll be in good hands."

"And if it's someone else?"

Ed finished up with his leg and rested his head against the stone again. "I don't know, but to be honest, some people might try to kill him."

It was silent in the cave for a while before Mufasa spoke again. "What are the odds of your brother finding him?"

Ed shrugged. "He's probably looking for me, so there's a pretty good chance they'll run into each other. And if I know Al, he'll probably be more than willing to look after Simba for a while."

"Then let's hope they find each other," Mufasa said.


	9. Chapter 9

Meh, got nothing to say about this chapter

Meh, got nothing to say about this chapter. Enjoy.

I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.

"Oh, come on, Fullmetal. Don't tell me you forgot how to write," Roy said as he shoved the pen in Simba's face. Simba growled at him and swatted it away. They'd been playing this weird game for hours, and all Simba wanted was to understand what they wanted from him.

"Um, he might not be able to do it that way, sir," Al said after a while.

"Do what?" Simba asked for about the fifth time. He found that trying to speak, though not always successful with these people, did tend to have a better result. This time wasn't an exception.

"Here, brother, let's try this," Al said, picking up the pen and moving a piece of paper towards him. He began moving it along the paper, and finally, Simba saw what its purpose was. It was to make marks.

Al drew a bunch of unrecognizable symbols on the paper, and Simba stared at them for a moment before looking up at Al.

"Just point at the letters and I'll spell it out for you," Al said.

Okay… Simba looked at him for another moment before grabbing the pen with his mouth. Since he knew what it was for now, he had no problems with drawing. He started out by drawing, with difficulty, a very basic version of Ed, including the way he wore his hair, and then he drew a small version of himself. When he saw that he'd gotten both humans' attention, he drew a circle around the lion and scribbled out the picture of Ed. Then he sat and looked at the two expectantly.

"So… you really did get turned into a lion?" Al asked nervously.

Simba smacked his forehead. "No!"

"Oh… did I get something wrong?" Al asked again.

Simba nodded and looked at the paper again. There wasn't room to draw anything else.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Roy asked, placing a new piece of paper in front of Simba. "Would you rather use something else to draw?"

Simba nodded. Maybe if he could use his paw, he could make it more clear. He watched as Roy stood, walked over to his desk, and returned a minute later with something in his hand. He twisted something off the top and placed it on the table in front of Simba. Simba stuck one of his claws in the opening, and smiled when he saw that his claw was now covered in the same black substance that came out of the pen.

"That better?" Roy asked.

Simba nodded and began sketching a picture of Pride Rock. Then he sketched a picture of a building, and he drew some humans in front of it before drawing lions in front of his own home. He made sure to draw a human that looked like Ed, and a lion that looked like him.

"Okay, so you have humans in front of a building, and lions in front of a… giant rock?"

Simba nodded. Then he circled Ed and himself, and on a new piece of paper, he drew Pride Rock again, with Ed and himself on top. Finally, he drew one last picture, identical to the first one except that Ed amongst the lions, and Simba was with the humans.

"A… a switch?" Al asked.

Simba nodded, glad that he was finally getting through to these people.

"So you're not really my brother?"

Simba took one look at Al and groaned. The armor just looked so sad, but he couldn't do anything about it. He shook his head regretfully before placing a paw on Al's leg.

"Is… is he alive, then?"

Simba nodded.

"Is he okay?"

Simba stared at Al for a moment before regretfully shaking his head. Al looked even more sad now.

"Can you take me to him?" Al asked, although to Simba it sounded more like a demand. Simba blinked and took a few steps back, not realizing that he was at the edge of the table until his back leg didn't connect with the wood. He fell back and hit the floor with a thud, and as soon as he pushed himself back to his feet, he noticed that nobody was paying that much attention to him at the moment. Instead, Roy was frowning at Al.

"You sure that's such a good idea? If someone's making chimeras like this…"

"He's probably the only one who knows where to go, though," Al replied. "Shouldn't someone check it out before you make a decision?"

Roy looked at Al with a smile. "I see your point. I'll have Lieutenant Hawkeye get a ticket to Fullmetal's last known location."

"Thank you, Colonel," Al said before looking back down at Simba. "So… you do remember where to go, right?"

Simba gave a confident nod. If they were going back to wherever Al had found him, he was sure he could find his way back.

"Okay, then. Sorry for the mix-up."

"It's okay," Simba replied.

Al reached down and patted his head. "It's too bad I don't know your name."

Simba tilted his head curiously before jumping onto the couch and sitting next to the armor. When he looked up, he noticed that Roy was looking at him with interest.

"You know, maybe we can find a way for him to tell us," the human said. "You up for that?"

Simba nodded. As long as he had a way to get back, he felt like he was up for anything.

"Okay, we'll start, then," Roy said, picking up the paper with the funny symbols on it and pointing to the first one. "This is an 'A.' Does your name begin with that sound?"

Simba groaned. This was going to be a long night…

I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS!

It was darker than usual that night. Ed lay in his little space, his back to the rock, and stared out at the cave. The lions were all asleep, even his 'guard,' and he noted that there was enough space for him to leave if he wanted to. It was a good thing he wasn't in the mood to leave, otherwise he'd probably have made a break for it by now…

He looked up when he heard a noise, and found himself looking at Scar. The lion was at the entrance to the cave, and he was padding back and forth as if he were waiting for something, or holding a debate with himself…

Ed sat up a bit and crept as far out of the alcove as he could without actually leaving it, trying to hear what Scar was saying. He kept his head down, trying to avoid being noticed. He kept his breathing to a minimum, and stopped moving in order to hear what Scar was saying. After a moment, he noted that he could hear the lion fairly clearly.

"That stupid brat, getting in the way of my plan," Scar muttered. "Humans are slow; they're slow and stupid, but that boy isn't. What now, what now…"

All of a sudden, Scar stopped, and Ed quickly shoved himself back into the space, accidentally brushing against his 'guard' as he did so. The lioness woke up at this, and she let out a deep yawn, which caught Scar's attention. Ed quickly lay down and shut his eyes, hoping nobody would notice he was awake.

"You're up late," the lioness remarked; Scar was probably approaching.

"I have a lot on my mind," Scar replied. His voice was closer, so Ed managed to confirm that he had approached.

"About this thing?" she asked, poking Ed with a paw. Ed grimaced, but he refused to open his eyes.

"What else?" Scar replied. Ed had to admit, he was a pretty smooth talker. "You have to wonder what he has planned."

"What do you mean?" the lioness asked.

"He's a human. They're incredibly greedy by nature, especially the light ones. I've heard they capture lions and put them on display in distant lands."

Ed decided he'd had enough of playing dead for the moment. This was pissing him off. He opened his eyes and sat up, gaining the attention of both lions.

"Some people also kill each other off just to gain power," he added. "And I'm sure something like that would _never_ happen here," he said sarcastically.

"Who gave you permission to speak?" Scar snapped. "You should be grateful you're still alive."

Ed snorted. "Yeah, I've heard that one before. By the way, you don't need to tell me what's wrong with humans. I think I know the basics by now." And without another word, Ed turned his back to Scar and lay back down.

He heard Scar let out a derisive snort before walking away, and after a few minutes, Ed felt a paw poking at his back.

"You really need to stop doing that," his 'guard' said.

"Doing what?" Ed asked.

"Scar hates you enough as it is. You shouldn't give him any more reasons."

Ed grunted. "I'll work on that."

"By the way, were you serious when you said you've heard that before?"

Ed sighed. "Yeah."

"Oh." It was quiet for a while before Ed felt a familiar warmth pressing against his back. "See you in the morning."

I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.

"Okay, back to the start again. Is the next sound an 'a' sound?" Roy asked.

Simba shook his head halfheartedly. Two more sounds, he was going close…

"How about the 'b' sound?" Roy asked next.

Simba nodded, realizing that they were coming to the end. _Just one more sound…_

"Okay, so far we have 'Simb…' are we getting close?"

Simba nodded again.

"Good," Roy muttered. "This is getting old. Okay, let's start from the beginning of the alphabet again. Is the next sound an 'a' sound?"

Simba nodded excitedly.

"Simba?" Al asked.

"Yes!" Simba exclaimed, once again forgetting that they couldn't understand him.

"All right, Simba, why don't you and Alphonse stay with me for the evening? There won't be any trains until tomorrow morning anyway."

"Right," Al said.

It wasn't long before Simba found himself being ushered into that space in the armor again, though this time he didn't mind so much. He would be going home tomorrow, and that was all that mattered.

I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.

Roy's apartment was pretty small compared to what Simba was used to, but he didn't much care at the moment. He was let out of the armor and given a small tour of the place, though most of what Roy said went over his head. In the end, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table – Simba jumped up on to one of the chairs – and discussed a few plans for the next day. Well, at least, the humans did that. Simba just nodded in agreement, or shook his head in disagreement, every once in a while.

After a while, Simba realized that he hadn't eaten in a while. Thankfully, it wasn't a problem, as it was only a few minutes before Roy stood. "I don't suppose you care if your food's cooked."

Simba blinked and looked confusedly at Roy for a moment before shaking his head. As long as it wasn't something gross…

To his dismay, he had to wait a while for food. Finally, though, Roy brought some back to the table, and after they ate, Simba was allowed to go to sleep in the living room. Al sat nearby and read a book.


	10. Chapter 10

Ugh, my inspiration keeps disappearing… Sorry guys, I'll try to update more fics in the next couple of weeks, but I just have t

Ugh, my inspiration keeps disappearing… Sorry guys, I'll try to update more fics in the next couple of weeks, but I just have too many to remember them all and the only one that I've constantly been working on isn't even posted on here, though I might change that sometime…

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

It was late the next morning when Ed woke up, looking straight at the bottom of Mufasa's mane. The lion was standing over him for the moment, and Ed noted that he was looking concernedly at something nearby. Finally, he turned and looked down at Ed.

"You're coming with me to search for Simba," Mufasa said, moving so that Ed had enough room to stand up. "If I'm right, you may be the only one who can find him."

Ed nodded and followed the lion quietly out to the savannah. Once they were far enough away, Mufasa slowed down and turned to Ed.

"I heard you spoke with my brother last night."

Ed cringed inwardly. He had a pretty good idea of where this was going. "Something like that."

"Tell me what happened."

"Well…" Ed began, not quite sure where to begin.

"Everything that happened. Including what was going on before your guard woke up."

Ed sighed. Either he was about to expose Scar for good, or he was walking right into his death, but seeing as he didn't see a better way out of this, he went ahead and told Mufasa what he'd heard, getting ready to run if things got dangerous.

Thankfully, things didn't get dangerous once Ed finished his story. Instead, once Ed had finished, Mufasa let out a resigned sigh.

"I had a feeling he was behind this," he said as they made their way to the rocks. "He must have been waiting for an opportunity like this, and if you had been any other human, it may have worked."

Ed frowned. "What do you mean, if I had been any other human?"

"Well, how many humans do you know that can understand lions?" Mufasa asked.

Ed decided not to respond to that. Even if he hadn't had the feeling that there was something more to it, he realized that Mufasa was right. If he couldn't understand them, then he'd probably be doing much worse.

They climbed up to the top of the rocks and looked out at the surrounding lands. Ed was beginning to feel worried; something big was about to happen, and he didn't know what to think of it because, quite frankly, he didn't know what it was.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Simba was overjoyed to escape from Al's armor after the train ride; they had arrived in that town where Simba had first seen Al, and they had passed through it to the rocks loomed over them. Simba walked ahead of Al, sniffing and pawing the ground in an effort to find his way back to where Scar had first found him. Finally, he arrived, and the two of them wandered around for a while, Simba trying to return to his own world and Al looking for whatever Simba was looking for.

It was a few hours later that Simba gave up, collapsing on the ground with a disgruntled sigh. Why couldn't he get back? This was driving him insane! All he wanted was to see his mom and dad and Nala and Ed again–

"Simba!"

"Ed!" Simba shouted, and he turned and ran towards the disembodied voice, which wasn't disembodied as he approached, because Ed seemed to appear out of nowhere. Simba jumped up and tackled Ed, and he laughed as they fell in a heap on the ground.

"Ow…"

"Oh, sorry," Simba said, stepping off of Ed's chest and backing up a bit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ed replied, but he didn't look so fine to Simba. He looked tired and worried and beat up. "What about you? You okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Simba replied. "I ran into that other Scar you mentioned, and he thought I was you, but he didn't try to kill me because I was a lion, and he gave me to Al, and I sat in Al for a long time and met this other guy named Roy, and neither of them could understand me so I had to do some writing thing, and then we came back here–"

"Brother!"

Ed and Simba turned to see Al run up to them. The armor pulled Ed into a tight hug, but like Simba, apologized and backed off as soon as it started to hurt Ed. "You're hurt, brother?" Al asked.

"Yeah, but it's healing. So you brought Simba to headquarters?" Ed asked.

Al seemed surprised. "Well, yeah, but how–"

"I have no idea, Al," Ed interrupted. "But we can understand each other."

"Well, that's good," Al said. "Because the Colonel wants to know what happened."

Simba watched the brothers exchange some more dialogue, added a few things himself, and sat back with a smile. Ed was home, and Simba would probably be home soon, too. Everything was good.

Until a voice from behind Simba said, "Well, well, what a touching reunion."

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

This chapter's a bit short and discombobulated because I forgot where I'm going with the plot. I think I remember now, though.


	11. Chapter 11

Lots of action in this one. And plot. Some of it nonsensical and some of it confusing. I hadn't planned on adding a new character, but I did. Hopefully it won't prove to be disastrous.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Ed was instantly ready for a fight. Al was too, though Ed was pretty sure his brother had no idea what was going on. Simba, on the other hand, just looked confused.

"Ed? What's wrong?"

"Simba, get away from him," Ed replied. "He wants to kill you."

"Oh, come now, just because we had a slight misunderstanding doesn't mean I want to kill my own nephew," Scar replied. "Don't try to lie to him."

"Oh, I'm not lying. You're planning something nasty, and it's pretty obvious by now that both of us are involved."

Simba looked even more lost. "What? What's going on?"

Scar looked pissed. "Simba, this boy is lying to you. Come with me, and I'll take you back to Pride Rock."

"No. Don't go with him, Simba. What was the last thing he said to you?" Ed asked.

"Don't answer that, Simba! He's trying to trick you!"

Ed snorted. "What, afraid of what he might say about you? Why don't you tell him how you accused me of sending him here?"

"What?" Simba looked at Scar in confusion. "I thought you said I had to go to the rocks to find something that would prove he wasn't planning anything!"

"Oh, Simba, he's already started," Scar lamented. "He's trying to turn you against me."

"Isn't that exactly what you're doing?" Ed snapped.

"Simba…" Al said. "I have no idea what's going on, but Ed and I would never try to hurt you. Please believe us."

Simba looked torn. For a moment, he shifted his gaze between the opposing parties, trying to decide who to believe and who to turn to. Finally, he closed his eyes, let out a sigh, and turned towards Ed.

"I believe Ed and Al. If Ed had been lying, Dad would have ripped his head off before he got all the way here."

Damn it, did he really have to remind Ed how scary Mufasa was?

Simba ran up to the Elrics and jumped into Al's arms. "Besides," he said. "I can see further from up here."

Ed snorted. "Good thing I've got Al on my side."

That seemed to be the thing that set Scar over the edge. He leapt forward, barely giving Ed enough time to jump out of the way and form a blade on his arm using alchemy. Al set Simba down and got into a fighting stance, and Ed did the same.

"I'll kill you first," Scar said to Ed, poised to spring on the alchemist. Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground, creating a wall just as Scar jumped.

But it didn't work. Scar was used to that trick already, and he had aimed to the left of Ed. Ed whipped around to see him just as he pounced, knocking Ed to the ground and placing a paw on his throat. It was there for a moment, and Ed got a very good view of a lion's mouth for a split second before he got an equally good view of his brother's forearm. Al had landed a punch that sent Scar flying.

"Watch out for Simba," Ed said as the lion got to his feet. "All this was some plan to get rid of him so Scar could be king."

"I have no idea what you mean by that, brother, but I'll do it," Al replied. "Just watch yourself, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Scar pounced again, but Ed was ready for it. He lunged forward and down, sticking his arm out and catching Scar's shoulder on his arm-blade. Scar roared out in pain and slashed out at Ed as soon as he landed. The claws hit metal, and Ed slashed again.

The fighting continued for a couple of minutes before Ed noticed that he had an audience. He now two Scars in front of him, and neither was a welcome sight.

Ed was exhausted by now. Al had helped as much as he could, but now Al's focus was on keeping the human Scar away from Ed. And of course, Simba was in the background, trying desperately to shout out helpful advice to Ed and unable to do anything else.

But things were about to get even more complicated. Scar had backed Ed into a wall, and was about to pounce once more when a golden blur slammed into him. Ed managed to see that it was Mufasa.

"Traitor!" Mufasa shouted.

"I'm not betraying you!" Scar replied, backing away from the larger lion. "You see, I was trying to _protect_ Simba from these humans."

"Yeah, right!" both Ed and Simba snapped. Mufasa glared at them both to shut them up and turned back to Scar.

"I should have known what you were planning," he growled. Ed was still in a fighting stance, but he backed off a ways, trying to catch his breath and see how Al was faring. "You always wanted to be king. You hate my son because of that."

"Do you really think he's capable of ruling the Pride Lands?" Scar asked. Ed noted that Al was retreating towards the group, and Simba had jumped up to a higher cliff and – for the most part – out of harm's way.

"He will be."

Both lions looked over at Ed. Scar looked spiteful, and Mufasa looked grateful. Ed decided to continue.

"He's got what it takes. He cares about everyone around him. He'll be a better ruler than you would ever be."

There was a crash. Ed's attention was instantly diverted to Al and the human Scar, who were now less than ten yards away. Al's body had been destroyed again, but he was still alive. The only problem was that it was two versus two again, assuming the two Scars got the idea to team up.

"Well, well, I think I like this newcomer," the lion Scar said, walking around to where the human Scar was approaching Ed and Mufasa. The human Scar looked at the lion Scar in confusion for a moment. Ed decided to translate.

"He likes you because you hate me," Ed told the human Scar.

"So that cub wasn't you after all," the human Scar said.

"What? Of course not! How the hell could I be turned into a lion?" Ed asked.

"Shou Tucker was capable of it."

Now _that_ was a harsh blow. Ed glared at the Ishbalan and tried to rid himself of the horrible feeling that came with those memories. "That case was a bit different. Besides, you killed both him and Nina, as I recall."

"I assume this is the one you mentioned earlier," Mufasa said.

"Yeah, he is," Ed replied.

"So it's two against two."

"Sorry I can't help!" Al shouted from where his armor was in a heap on the ground.

"Don't worry about it, Al! You tried," Ed shouted back to his brother before turning back to the situation at hand. They were at a momentary standstill, and Ed decided to give Mufasa some good advice before things got ugly. "Watch out for that guy's right arm. If he gets his hand on you, he'll explode your body from the inside. I saw him blow some guy's brains out once."

"Thanks for the warning," Mufasa replied.

And that was when all hell broke loose. Both Scars attacked, and Ed and Mufasa were forced to fight back. Simba still shouted bits of helpful advice, but Ed was getting tired, and even though the lion Scar was tired as well, it seemed like team Scar had the advantage. Ed continued to fight with all his strength, but after another few minutes, something happened that proved to be a serious blow. The human Scar had gotten his hand on Mufasa's shoulder.

Ed turned away from the lion Scar and slammed himself into the Ishbalan, but the damage was still done. Mufasa's shoulder had been ripped away, and Ed could see the bone sticking out from beneath the flesh. Now it was officially one against two. Well, one and a quarter, if Ed counted Simba's shouts.

"Why the hell did you attack him like that?" Ed screamed at the human Scar, standing in front of Mufasa as the lion attempted to do something about his wound. "He's got nothing to do with what happened to your people! Hell, the only reason he's protecting me is because we're both trying to keep his son safe!"

"That's not the only reason," Mufasa managed to say, but the human Scar couldn't understand it. Ed was breathing hard, and he was about to attack again when something completely insane happened.

A wall shot up between the two groups, separating team Scar from team Everyone Else, and Ed fell back in surprise. Then, he saw someone walking up, but this was probably the worst surprise he'd gotten all day.

"Hohenheim, you bastard! What the hell are you doing here?" Ed screamed.

"Why are you calling me a bastard?" Hohenheim asked, sounding honestly confused.

"Who is he?" Mufasa asked, and Ed jerked back to reality. He had to help Mufasa first, though judging by the labored breathing, there wasn't much time left.

"That's our father," Ed growled as he pulled off his jacket. "Just be quiet, I've gotta stop the bleeding."

"Why are you talking to a lion?" Hohenheim asked.

The wall behind Ed vanished in an explosion of dust, and Ed whipped around, tripping over Mufasa in the process. Hohenheim stepped forward and placed his hand on Mufasa's shoulder.

"Well, I don't know what this lion's doing here, but since you seem so bent on keeping him alive, I suppose he's on our side," Hohenheim said as there was a bright flash of light. Something was off about the way he healed Mufasa's shoulder with such ease, but Ed ignored it. Team Scar was approaching.

"Give your father my thanks," Mufasa said as he got up.

"Mufasa says thanks," Ed growled, preparing himself for another fight. Hohenheim looked confused, but Ed didn't care. He'd punch his dad in the face for being such a moron after this was finished. "Are you going to help us?"

"Well, I'm not sure what's going on, but I'll try," Hohenheim said.

"All you need to know is that we're fighting those two. The human's got some kind of destructive alchemy circle on his body. All he has to do is get his hand on something."

"Understood. What about that cub on the ledge up there?"

"That's Mufasa's son Simba. We're trying to protect him."

That was about all they could say, because Team Scar had arrived. Ed was ready to fight again, but somehow he found himself forced back, and his father had completely taken over for him. In fact, Hohenheim was doing a hell of a lot better than Ed had done. It was like he didn't even have to think about using alchemy, and he didn't seem to ever get hurt. In the end, the lion Scar disappeared back into the other world, and the human Scar followed.

"Take Simba back to the Pride Lands," Mufasa shouted at Ed before turning and disappearing as well. Ed watched as Hohenheim followed, and decided to take this opportunity to fix Al and check on Simba.

"Thanks, brother," Al said as soon as his body was back to normal. "Should we go after them?"

"No. We've got to get Simba back home," Ed replied. "He'll be safe there."

"Brother, that was our father, right? Are you–"

"I'm going to break his nose as soon as this is over," Ed growled as he walked to the ledge. "Hey, Simba, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Simba shouted down to Ed. "I don't know how I'm supposed to get down, though."

Ed looked up. Simba was nowhere in sight. He sighed and climbed up, looking for Simba as he did. When he finally spotted the cub, though, Al was the one who had disappeared.

"Al?" Ed called.

"I'm down here, brother. Why can't I see you?"

"Uh… I'm not sure," Ed replied. "Hang on, I'll move a bit and see if–"

"Oh, I see you now. That was weird, it was like you just appeared out of thin air."

Ed frowned. "Thin air… Hey, Al, I think there's another entrance to the Pride Lands up here."

"How the hell does that work?"

"How should I know? I still don't know why I can understand animals all of a sudden!" Ed shot back. "Just get up here. It's probably better if we don't go back the same way as the others."

"Okay," Al said before beginning to climb.

They climbed a bit further up to where Simba was sitting, and looked out across the savannah. It was then that they finally let themselves recover from the day's events.

"I was terrified," Simba said.

"Me too," Ed replied as he sat up. "Come on, let's get you back home. We've got to tell everyone else what Scar's up to."

"Which Scar?" Simba asked.

"Your Scar," Ed replied as they began to walk forward. "Come on."

Mufasa was exhausted. They'd been chasing the two Scars for hours, but somehow they managed to keep a good distance ahead of them. When they'd gone a good ways into the Pride Lands, Mufasa stopped, and growled at Hohenheim to get the human to do the same.

"Eh? You want to stop chasing them?" Hohenheim asked.

"It would be better for us to protect our children," Mufasa replied, gesturing with his head to where they had come from.

Hohenheim got the idea, even if he couldn't understand the words. "It wouldn't be good if they found our sons again."

Mufasa nodded, and they turned around. They were downwind of the two Scars, and as long as the wind didn't change, Mufasa would know if the two were following them. Pride Rock was in the distance, and Mufasa made his way towards it.

"This isn't the way we came," Hohenheim said.

"We will find our sons there," Mufasa replied.

"Is… is there something important there?"

Mufasa nearly laughed. So this is what Simba had gone through when he'd gone missing.

"Well… I suppose there's no point in trying to argue," Hohenheim said. "I don't even know how Edward was able to understand you. He seemed to be a normal human when he was younger."

Mufasa turned to the human. How he longed to explain how Edward had come to understand him, and how something inside him made him into something more than an ordinary human. But the only way he could do that was through Edward, and even when they met again, Mufasa did not wish for Edward to know the truth just yet. It was something for him to find out on his own.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

As they walked, Ed felt uneasy. There was no sign of Team Scar anywhere, but they'd had to take a different way to get down off the cliff, and there was no sign of Pride Rock anywhere. They'd continued in what both Ed and Simba thought was the right direction, but there was something else bothering Ed. It was as if someone were following them, but every time Ed looked back, there was no living thing in sight.

"Something wrong, brother?" Al asked.

Ed looked over at him. "Not really. I'm just nervous."

"Me too. Think dad's okay?"

Ed snorted. "As long as he doesn't get Mufasa killed, I don't really care."

"Brother, that's harsh. At least he's helping us."

"He's probably got some selfish reason for doing it," Ed muttered, but he didn't say anything more on the subject. After all, Simba was now listening in on them.

They walked in silence for a while, Ed's feeling of unease growing with every step. He kept looking back every once in a while, and was finally rewarded when he saw a flash of movement.

"Al…"

Al looked back. "What'd you see?"

"Something's definitely following us," Ed muttered.

"What is it?" Simba asked.

"Dunno yet. We'll just have to be careful, and be ready to make a run for it if we have to get out of here."

It was too late for that, though. The mysterious being had somehow sneaked past them and was now standing in their way. Ed assumed a fighting stance as soon as he noticed, but it was no use.

There was no defense against a crazy monkey.

"Why are you all the way out here?" Rafiki asked.

"What? We had to take the long way around and we got lost," Ed replied, his voice higher than he would have preferred it to be. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Sinking."

Ed stared. "…What?"

"Sinking deep into thought, but being interrupted by a couple of humans!" Rafiki exclaimed. "Have you ever sunk into thought?"

"What? Yeah, but– Hey, do you know how we can get back to Pride Rock?"

"Of course! You go that way!"

Ed scowled. "It would help if you told us which way 'that' way is."

"You need to warn the others about Scars?"

"Yeah, so if you could tell us where to go–"

"Go that way."

Rafiki wasn't pointing in the way they'd been going. Ed cursed under his breath. "So we were going the wrong way."

"Yes, but now the lionesses will be warned and you will be safe. Go ahead."

Ed felt like he should make a nasty remark, but he honestly couldn't think of anything. He settled for a glare and led the way. "Thanks."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Yeah… Hoho.


	12. Chapter 12

So hey guys my computer's officially dead and I can't get anything off of it. This means that Strange Connections will not be updated for at least another three weeks, unless I find a place where I can get the most recent stuff off of my external hard drive before I go home for break. Other fics… well, it's the same thing, really. There are only a few that I don't need to check on the external hard drive before continuing to write them. This fic is one of those, and then there's the Indiana Jones one and the LotR one. So yeah.

.,.,.,.

It wasn't long after they had passed by Pride Rock that Mufasa realized there was no point in continuing the chase. The two Scars had outrun them, and the smartest thing to do from here was to return to his pride and tell them what was happening. He gestured to Hohenheim that they were to turn around, and the human stopped walking.

"I don't suppose there's any point in continuing," Hohenheim said, reading Mufasa's mind very well.

Mufasa nodded and gestured to Pride Rock. "I told your son to head to Pride Rock. We should meet them there."

"I have no idea what you just said, but I'm going to assume we have to go to that place you're gesturing to," Hohenheim said. "Is that where the boys are?"

Mufasa nodded. At least Hohenheim understood the situation well enough to make the correct guesses. They walked through the grasslands in silence, not stopping until they reached Pride Rock a few minutes later. Edward, Alphonse, and Simba hadn't arrived yet, but Mufasa wasn't too concerned. He explained the situation to his pride, finishing just as an unexpected visitor arrived.

"What brings you here?" Mufasa asked as Rafiki approached.

"I need to speak with you," Rafiki replied. "Some things are happening that should not be happening."

"I know," Mufasa said. "Scar has completely turned against us, and he's probably planning something else now."

"He has allies," Rafiki said. "I saw him speak to the hyenas earlier today. They are waiting for your son to try to return to Pride Rock. It is lucky those boys got lost on the way here!"

Mufasa couldn't help but smile at Rafiki's trickiness. "Where did you send them?"

"Towards the jungle," Rafiki replied.

"What?" Zazu asked from nearby. "They'd have to cross the desert to get there!"

"Zazu, I want you to find them and explain the situation to them," Mufasa said. "Make sure they make it across the desert safely."

"Yes, sire," Zazu said before flying off.

"Rafiki, I'm going to need your help," Mufasa said once Zazu had gone. "There's still one human who has no idea what's going on."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.

A desert.

That monkey had sent them to a desert.

And there was no sign of Pride Rock anywhere.

Ed would have screamed curse words at the top of his lungs if Simba hadn't been there, drinking water from a small stream.

"Maybe we have to keep going straight," Al suggested.

"No, I really don't think there's any desert near Pride Rock," Simba replied, and Ed translated.

"So that monkey lied to us," Ed growled. "I knew something was wrong when he was talking."

"Well… what now?" Simba asked.

Ed shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to find our way back by ourselves."

"Wait. Dad said to respect what that guy said, because he was smart. Maybe we should keep going."

"But who knows how far we've got to go?" Ed snapped. "And what if we need to help fight against Scar?"

"Which Scar?" Simba asked.

"Well… I guess they're pretty much one and the same by this point," Ed answered. "I mean… they both want at least one of us dead, and that'll be easier for them if they team up, so…"

"I can't believe Uncle Scar hates me that much," Simba said.

"Hey, it's not your fault he's a corrupt bastard," Ed said reassuringly.

"Brother!"

"What? It's true!" Ed snapped.

"Well, yeah, but couldn't you have kept it clean?"

"Oh, come on, it's not like Simba cares, do you, Simba?"

But Simba didn't answer. He was staring at something in the distance. Ed noticed his preoccupation and followed the cub's gaze.

"Hyenas…" Simba whispered. "They're all staring at us."

Ed frowned. "That's probably not good. Maybe we should cross the desert after all." He clapped his hands, placed them on the ground, and transmuted a watertight container that he then filled with water from the nearby stream. He had just finished it when something rather unexpected happened.

"I am so glad I found you!" Zazu said as he landed on a nearby boulder. "Mufasa wants you to head towards the jungle on the other side of this desert."

"Why? Is it because of those hyenas over there?" Simba asked.

Zazu jumped when he saw the hyenas watching them. "They've found you already? This is awful! Come, let's get out of here!"

Ed gave the water container to his brother and led the way, looking over his shoulder at the hyenas every once in a while. It looked like the only thing keeping them from attacking was a steep cliff that they would have to climb down.

"What's happening?" Simba asked as they walked.

Ed was quiet as Zazu explained the situation. He was busy keeping an eye on the hyenas walking behind them, slowly making their way down the cliff in a way that left no doubt in Ed's mind that they were going to attack.

"So we've got to get to the jungle and hope they give up on crossing the desert behind us?" Ed asked.

"That's essentially the plan, yes," Zazu replied.

Ed groaned. That was much easier said than done, especially since they had no hopes of secrecy now. "Well, I guess we'll just have to be smart about this," he muttered, bringing his hands together and mentally assessing the quality of the dry, cracked ground beneath them.

"Do you have a plan, brother?" Al asked.

"I'm trying to get one together," Ed replied. "I think we need to walk along the edge of the desert for a while, though."

"But that's out of the way!" Zazu exclaimed.

"Yeah, exactly. We'll make them think we're taking the long way back to Pride Rock and give 'em the slip somewhere along the way."

"How're we gonna do that?" Simba asked.

"I don't know yet," Ed admitted. "But I'm sure I'll have thought of something by the time they catch up with us."

Al groaned. "If you're the one coming up with the plan, then we're all doomed."

"Al!"

"Whatever, brother. Let's just get going."

Ed sighed and began to lead the way. Zazu leapt from his perch and flew in circles above them, giving Ed updates on the hyenas' approach. It wasn't long before they had gotten down from the cliffs and were running after the little group. It was sometime around then that Al came up with a decent idea.

"Brother, wait until they're close and then transmute a dust storm or something. We can get a ways into the desert without showing any footprints, and hopefully the dust will make it hard for them to catch our scent."

"Yeah, I was gonna do something like that," Ed replied, feeling slightly irritated that Al had stolen his only idea. "How far away are they?"

"They're coming up quickly," Zazu replied. "They'll likely be coming over the hill in a couple of minutes."

Ed kept his eyes on the hill they'd recently climbed over as he brought his hands together. Any moment now…

"There they are!" Zazu cried, just as Ed saw a blur of grey at the top of the hill. He placed his hands on the ground and felt an immense satisfaction when he heard the hyenas shouting in frustration. He transmuted a wall between his group and theirs just in case and grabbed onto Al's arm. Al had picked up Simba, and they were now sprinting across the ground, keeping absolutely silent to be sure the hyenas didn't hear them.

It worked. An hour later, Ed and Simba were collapsed on the hard desert ground, coughing up dust and watching for Zazu. The bird showed his face less than a minute later with the news that the hyenas were wandering back towards the Pride Lands.

"Nice going, Ed," Simba said. "I guess we just have to get to the jungle now, huh?"

"And you had better hurry," Zazu added. "I'll stay with you until you can see it for yourselves, and then I must return to tell your father what happened."

"Was our father with him?" Al asked.

"Yes, he was, though I think he will have a hard time understanding what's going on," Zazu replied, and Ed translated.

"Good," Ed muttered. "I wouldn't want it to be too easy for him."

Al sighed and shook his head. "He did save us, you know."

"That doesn't change a whole lot," Ed replied as he continued walking.

"Well, if you two are done arguing, I'm going to check on the hyenas," Zazu said.

"Yeah, sure," Ed replied. They continued walking in silence, stopping only a couple of times to drink water and such, until night fell and the air became cold. Zazu returned sometime around then with good news. The hyenas had officially given up on chasing after them.

"Can we go home yet?" Simba asked.

"No. Your father wants you to wait in the jungle until it's safe for you to return."

Ed sighed. "Well, I guess that's that. We'll see you later, I suppose."

"Wait. Shouldn't we write a message for our father?" Al asked. "You know, so he at least knows a little about what's going on?"

"He can figure it out for himself," Ed snapped.

"Okay, then, how about this? If he doesn't know what's going on, he'll make life difficult for everyone else, and you wouldn't want him to make other people miserable with his ignorance, would you?"

"Hm, you've got a point," Ed said thoughtfully. "All right, let's get to it. You wouldn't mind carrying it, would you, Zazu?"

"It depends on what you're asking me to carry," Zazu said.

"Well," Al said, pulling some paper out from beneath his loin cloth. Ed cringed a bit. Even if he was just a suit of armor, that just didn't look right. "I've got some paper here, but I don't know what to write with. Think you can transmute some ink with something out here, Ed?"

"Screw that, I'll just open one of my cuts and use my blood," Ed replied, reaching for the nearly-healed cut on his head.

"Brother!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Just give me the paper. I'll get it taken care of."

"Good. Just be sure to make it tactful."

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

_Dear Bastard,_

_Here's what's happening. For some reason I managed to get trapped in this psychotic lion world where every single animal I run into can talk to me, and despite the fact that this shouldn't even be possible, I've decided to help them with a problem they're having. See, that creepy dark-furred lion (Scar) that tried to kill us all is the brother of that lion that you healed (Mufasa). Mufasa's the king of the lions. Scar wants to be king, and he tried to get rid of Mufasa's son Simba in some attempt to be the next in line. When that plan was exposed, I'm guessing he just went crazy and decided to kill people and take over by force. It looks like he's got some hyenas on his side, so something big and bad might happen soon. I have no idea why these animals have their own government and political disputes, but Mufasa was nice enough not to eat me so I want to help him. By the way, I called you a bastard because you ditched us and ruined our lives._

_Sincerely,_

_Edward_

_PS: The dark-skinned guy with Scar is Scar, who's an Ishbalan who wants to kill me and all the other State Alchemists. I have no idea what Scar's planning with him, but if it gets me killed, I'm sure Scar will agree with it._

Hohenheim read through the note three times before folding it and putting it in his pocket. "Well, I think I understand what's going on now," he said to Mufasa. "Though it would be nicer if my son were here to translate."

Mufasa grunted in acknowledgement. He and Hohenheim were standing on the highest point of Pride Rock, searching the surrounding land for signs of Scar or the hyenas. Zazu, upon delivery of the letter, had left to do the same thing before returning to the boys in the desert.

"Well, there's no signs of anything suspicious yet," Mufasa said, doing his best to communicate that through gestures and motions. "We might as well go inside for the night."

"I suppose we should," Hohenheim agreed. They walked together down the stone and entered the cave, not noticing the lone hyena watching them from behind a shrub.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

"They're suspecting an attack," Scar muttered as he listened to the hyena's report. "Those brats have probably made it back to Pride Rock as well."

Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were keeping their distance. They'd failed to capture the cub and the golden-eyed human, and Scar wasn't going to let them forget it. Scar had planned on using Simba as a hostage of sorts, but without that cub, he would have to take a more extreme course of action. This, of course, would not be possible without the dozens of hyenas under his command. He could spare a few to find those brats, but the rest would prepare for an attack on the Pride Lands.

"You want to kill that little human boy, don't you?" Scar asked the human through lots of gestures and drawings in the dirt.

"Yes."

"If you help me, you will get that chance."

The human Scar was silent for a good while. "What did you have in mind?" he asked.

As Scar explained his plan to the human, he chose to leave out certain details. After all, the human didn't have to know _why_ the Pride Lands needed to be taken over, or that Scar was going to be getting his revenge on both Mufasa and Simba. All the human needed to know was that Scar wanted to get his paws on that little cub, which meant getting rid of that alchemist.

.,.,.,.,.,.

Do you people realize how confusing it is to write this stuff? I mean, come on, Scar didn't like Scar's face, so Scar took Scar to the place where Scar often waited for Scar and Scar decided to beat Scar up for taking him here, but then Scar hugged Scar and everything was fantastic. SCAR SCAR SCAR SCAR SCAR SCAR that word looks weird now.


End file.
